I have long been an admirer of the mututalist, co-operative and voluntary collective self help movements and their better intellectual advocates. Providing powerful critiques of mercantilism past and corporatism present they often provide powerful insights that chime deeply with the best libertarian instincts.

Today’s announcement by the so called Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, that Manchester is to be allowed to build a venue for more than 1,200 unlimited jackpot gaming machines might be a tiny and welcome step but it falls way short of the libertarian jackpot.For in modern Britain nothing can be voluntarily decided between entrepreneurs and their customers. Instead, everything has to be licensed and regulated by the government – usually through an endless array of front organisations such as the Casino Advisory Panel.

Today’s announcement was propagandistically spun by government under the rubric of regeneration. In addition to Manchester, other licenses were granted so that Great Yarmouth, Hull, Newham, Middlesbrough, Solihull, Milton Keynes, Leeds and Southampton could all be regenerated.In a libertarian world such ‘regeneration’ would of course occur in these and any other places that customers and business people desired. Moreover, the process would be accompanied by plethora of regenerative activities currently outlawed. Perhaps the most damaging economic criminalisation at the moment is propagated by the United Nation’s International Law of the Sea. Effectively outlawing the privatisation of the sea this ludicrous body of law means that 70 per cent of planet earth is effectively rendered useless for economic development.

NFR – the free market nurses group – has just published a great article on the former Labour MP Alice Mahon.

Having spent years promoting the NHS, it turns out that when
Mahon actually needed treatment and care the NHS would not actually give her what she ‘needed’. Reduced to complaining that she has “been an ardent supporter of the NHS all my life, and now feel totally let down” quite rightly concluded that she should go private. Reportedly spending more than £5,000 to get a treatment which might save her from losing her eyesight, I am reminded of something my father used to say: experience is the best teacher.

“Every person has the right to life and justly-acquired property, and to do with his own whatever does not infringe the equal rights of others.

“From this primary right can be derived all the rights of the liberal tradition – freedom of expression and contract and association, together with security against oppressive or arbitrary behaviour by the State.

“It does not generate any right not to be hated or despised or shunned.

“It does not justify laws against discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, religion or sexual orientation, or laws against expressing or inciting hatred against any group.

“If someone chooses, for whatever reason, not to employ homosexuals because of their homosexuality – or not to rent property to them, or not to provide other paid services to them – that is his right within the liberal tradition. By such behaviour, he is not committing any aggression against others. He is merely exercising his right NOT to associate or NOT to contract. No one who is thereby refused suffers any harm that is, within the liberal tradition, to be considered actionable.

“The same reasoning fully applies to discrimination on the other grounds of race, sex and religion.

“By forcing people to associate with or contract with persons whom they would otherwise reject, anti-discrimination laws are an attack on life and property. They are a form of coerced association. They give some people uncompensated claims on others. They amount to a form of slavery mediated by the State.

“Politically correct authoritarians like to hail each new set of anti-discrimination laws as an extension of human rights. Such laws are in fact violations of the only human rights that mean anything.

“The Libertarian Alliance does not advocate or condone any act of discrimination, but defends the right of others to discriminate and to preach discrimination.”

Dr Sean Gabb is the Director of the Libertarian Alliance and edits its journal Free Life. His book, Smoking, Class and the Legitimation of Power, is available at Amazon. His other books are available from Hampden Press at http://www.hampdenpress.co.uk.

The Libertarian Alliance is Britain’s most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute. It has published over 700 articles, pamphlets and books in support of freedom and against statism in all its forms. These are freely available at http://www.libertarian.co.uk

The Libertarian International – http://www.libertarian.to – is a sister organisation to the Libertarian Alliance. Its mission is to coordinate various initiatives in the defence of individual liberty throughout the world.

Sean Gabb’s personal website – http://www.seangabb.co.uk – contains about a million words of writings on themes interesting to libertarians and conservatives.

Liberalia – http://www.liberalia.com – maintained by by LA Executive member Christian Michel, Liberalia publishes in-depth papers in French and English on libertarianism and free enterprise. It is a prime source of documentation on these issues for students and scholars.

Recently, the drug crystal meth has been reclassified as a class A substance which means that people who now use it will face up to seven years in prison and an unlimited fine.Although this drug has as yet not taken root in the UK, this change in the law will now greatly encourage its promotion. We can be as sure as day follows night that this criminalisation will not only encourage its trade from the supply side but its consumption will spread down the age range.

The sad thing in all of this is that politicians really don’t learn from their mistakes. When politicians outlawed all kinds of fire arms it was obvious then that
Britain would soon become awash with illegal guns and gun crime – as is now the case.

Yesterday evening – 17 January 2007 – I had the great pleasure of addressing the
Oxford Hayek Society – a scholarly society that is now in its twentieth year. The meeting took place at HarrisManchesterCollege and was attended by some thirty members of the society. I spoke on ‘the relevance of libertarianism’.

As with most student groups, while the formal membership of the society are around 200 the active membership is probably only 10 per cent of that figure.

Nevertheless, it was a great evening and I found the audience to be particularly knowledgeable and engaging when it came to free market ideas and the usual texts. Hayek, Rand, Mises and Rothbard were all mentioned at various points in the proceedings.